Me and my 1973 Challenger's long journey

[Stockcar axeman]

Hello everyone, here is my project that has been many years in the making. I bought the car (1973 Dodge Challenger) in 1984 when I was 16 (my 1st car) and got involved in drag racing with it a little. I built a couple of 340s for it and a nice 727 but never got to the rear end updates to get the drivetrain complete. After a couple of years I had to buy a VW bug for transportation as I was always working on the Challenger so it wasn’t always available to drive every day. As time marched on I had other hobbies and life threw other things at us and the car sat as it took a place on the back burner of life. In 2004 I started on a full restoration project as after 20 years of ownership I felt it was time to get it done. We’ll that was in between my 2 kids being born and by the time my boy was 5 we bought some quarter midgets and off racing we went. Also I lost the motor in my DD (87 IROC Camaro) so I stopped the Challenger and got working on the Camaro but that turned into a bigger project the deeper I got in it. Then we moved into a bigger house and so life went on. Well last year (2021) my boy turned 15 and I figured it was time to get the Challenger done so I decided to go big with it to make up for lost time. I wanted to show him how to build cars as schools are pretty hit and miss with vocational classes now. We pulled the car and all the parts out to get an inventory and I started researching what has changed since my last planning of this car’s restoration. I’ve got a painter, chassis shop and frame shop all lined up and we will be putting the car together ourselves. The parts have been showing up and the car is to go to the frame shop tomorrow to make sure the unibody is straight. Then it’s scheduled for the chassis shop on March 28th to get a roll cage, mini tub job and the USCT level 3 chassis stiffening kit installed. Then it will go to the sandblaster where my boy works part time to get it back to bare metal. He will get to do some of the blasting so I’m happy that he will be part of the team. Years ago I would never had imagined my son blasting the car so even though it’s been a long haul for the ol’ car I can see that this is the time for it to get done. Life is sure a crazy journey! After the blasting it will be heading to the body shop for the body work and paint. They said they will probably take 3-4 months to get the body work/paint done so I’m hoping to have the car back by the end of summer but who knows as things come up all the time, especially during this crazy world we’re living in right now. I have a Callies Gen 2 Hemi block on order and have a great local drag racing machine shop all lined up for the machine work as I will build the motor. It will be a 572 Hemi with a 727 TF and a Dana 60 rear end. Still trying to decide on a hood, either a shaker setup or a 69 440 6-pack hood scoop on a fiberglass hood. We will drive it on the street, cruise it, car show it and run it down the quarter mile! We’re looking forward to many more great memories from this car from the build to the driving it. I have been made many offers over the years but it never once crossed my mind to sell it, even when I was dead broke without a house to live in it never even crossed my mind and my wife of all these years never once even suggested getting rid of it. I will update the thread as we progress through the journey so here are a few pics of our starting point. The one picture with the car on the starting line is from 1985 at Seattle International Raceway (now Pacific Raceways) is the only picture that I have left of the car from back then. Taking pictures everyday wasn't a thing back then as we were too busy doing stuff to stop and deal with a camera. Plus who wants to get grease all over the camera and wait a week for the pics!

 

[1972 AAR Cuda]

Very cool !
You and I seem to be in a very similar situation in many ways! I am in the Tacoma area of Washington and have a '74 Challenger that I swapped in a 360 replacing the tired 318. I also have a '72 Cuda (my first car) that looks a lot like your Challenger. The Cuda is my high school car and is a project that keeps being placed on the back burner - first I bought another '72 Barracuda to be used for parts but it ended up with a 440 and was "finished", then a '67 Dart for my daughter got in the way - which got the Cuda's 340, and finally a '74 Challenger got the majority of my time because I wanted something a little less "finished" than the 440 Barracuda, so I could drive it more often...
I also have pictures somewhere of the Nationals at SIR in the early 80's - so your picture at the starting line brings back some memories. Keep up the good work, it gives me hope on my "back burner" project!!

 

[Stockcar axeman]

Very cool !
You and I seem to be in a very similar situation in many ways! I am in the Tacoma area of Washington and have a '74 Challenger that I swapped in a 360 replacing the tired 318. I also have a '72 Cuda (my first car) that looks a lot like your Challenger. The Cuda is my high school car and is a project that keeps being placed on the back burner - first I bought another '72 Barracuda to be used for parts but it ended up with a 440 and was "finished", then a '67 Dart for my daughter got in the way - which got the Cuda's 340, and finally a '74 Challenger got the majority of my time because I wanted something a little less "finished" than the 440 Barracuda, so I could drive it more often...
I also have pictures somewhere of the Nationals at SIR in the early 80's - so your picture at the starting line brings back some memories. Keep up the good work, it gives me hope on my "back burner" project!!

Good to hear that you kept your car and never gave up on it. It sounds like you have some other cool Mopars in the family. Very cool! The NW needs all the Mopars we can get (as well as all cool cars) as this part of the country is all screwed up when it comes to motorsports. Never let the dream die. Take care.

 

[Stockcar axeman]

Well here is the first update to this thread as the car has made it back from the first stop on the long rebuild journey. The first thing on my to do list with the car was to get a pro shop to see how straight/square my unibody was as ever since I got the in 84 you could see the left rear was a little higher than the right rear. I was hoping it was the air shocks but it wasn't going to be that easy. So after finding a very reputable frame shop (Bryan's Frame shop in Pacific, Wa) I was able to get it on a rack and Bryan started to unwind what my car's story was. He told me that my car must have been built at 3:30pm on a Friday because what he found was a factory butcher job as the leaf spring's left mount was welded 1/2" too low and thus raising my car up 3/4" at the rear bumper. There is some damage to the left rear wheel inner tub and that is what first caught my eye so I though the car had been in a wreck but he went over everything and the car has all of the original sheet metal on it and he determined that it was a factory hack job, just my luck. I was glad to have finally had this mystery solved and the fix will cost me nothing as the all that has to be done is the mount to be moved up 1/2" higher and everything will fall into place. He did say that all of the frame rails are rock solid and they all measure within a 1/16" of an each of each other and that for a factory car of this period is very good so there was some good news that came out of this. Also the centerline of the vehicle was dead nuts on. The fix will cost me nothing as the car is now going to Ron Peircy's chassis shop shop for a mini tub job so he will put the mount where it needs to be to get my car sitting flat. Bryan called Ron and told him everything about the car without me asking so I have to commend him for reaching out on his own to help me out and make sure the car gets done right. Bryan worked on Ron Eaton's NW Tour stock car team here in the NW for over 25 years so he knows his stuff as Ron is one of the NW's greatest driver of all time. I sure had a good time visiting with Bryan and to hear some of the stories from his racing days with Ron. So now I'm just waiting on a Dana 60 from Strange to show up (more dang supply chain issues) and it goes right into the chassis shop for the mini tub job as well as a USCT level 3 chassis kit and a Morrison roll cage. It's nice to be getting this going finally and although not much changed physically with the car from this visit, it was along time coming to figure out what was up with my car's slanted stance. I'll post some more info after the chassis shop gets done with their magic. After that it goes to body and paint so it's starting to get some momentum going. This is the stuff I have been dreaming about for years as the car has not been tagged since 86. I can't believe it's finally happening although I couldn't have picked a worst time to do it. Oh well not much I can do except move forward. Good luck everyone with your projects! Summers coming!

 

[johnjb1972]

Keep up the good work--its work it!!!

 

[Stockcar axeman]

Keep up the good work--its work it!!!

Your car is beautiful. What a job well done! Now you get to enjoy it! Love that color combo as well as the bumble bee stripe, luggage rack, wheels etc... If you have any tips or can think of anything that might be helpful in the restoring of my car please feel free to pass that on. Stuff like sequence of events or anthing that is out of the norm for working on a auto. I tore the car apart around 15 years ago so I'm kind of familiar with the inner workings but there will be a few things that I'll have to feel my way through. I see your local. I'm out by Lake Morton (about 10 mins from Pacific Raceways) so not that far away. If I ever see the car I'll come up and say hi.

Cary

 

[Chryco Psycho]

Glad you are back working on the project , I would not waste you time running a shaker hood with a 572 it will be like breathing through a straw !! The shaker hoods were restrictive even with a stock Hemi .

 

[Stockcar axeman]

Glad you are back working on the project , I would not waste you time running a shaker hood with a 572 it will be like breathing through a straw !! The shaker hoods were restrictive even with a stock Hemi .

I ended up going with a 69 1/2 440 6 pack b body hood scoop for that exact reason. I thought about the shaker but modifying in some way but went a different direction. If I do another ebody it will have a shaker.

 

[6PKRTSE]

Glad you are back working on the project , I would not waste you time running a shaker hood with a 572 it will be like breathing through a straw !! The shaker hoods were restrictive even with a stock Hemi .

That is what I thought for my Hemi, but couldn't go with some cowl induction or big ole pro stock style scoop. So, I went with Tunnel ram and two 1050 Dominators and I custom made my Super Shaker to clear everything. Mine has no problem breathing.

 

[6PKRTSE]

Stockcar Axeman. If you need any other help on yours just let me know.

 

[Stockcar axeman]

Stockcar Axeman. If you need any other help on yours just let me know.

Thanks for the offer. I'm sure I'll take you up on that as your car is close to where I want to end up at.

 

[Stockcar axeman]

Well as usual the car is taking a lot longer that I planned but I knew going into it that things change and in this crazy world right now I’m glad to keep it moving forward. With all the supply chain issues I have changed things up abit as I bought a complete 426 Hemi as my motor plan was dragging along. I was worried about getting all the parts so I just bought a complete one when it almost fell in my lap. I am rebuilding it with the goal of around 700hp and am acquiring parts as we speak with it going in the machine shop in the next week or two. As for the chassis work (mini tub, roll bar, sub frame connectors, torques boxes as well as a few other stiffening items) I’m going to do that with guidance from a reputable chassis/frame guy so I’m really looking forward to the challenge/experience. I had the quarter skins cut off, then my son sandblasted those areas and now I am waiting to get the new skins installed then it comes back home for all the chassis work. After that it will get a complete sand blasting job and the body guys will have it for who knows how long? It’s been slow progress but it seems like things are picking up a little.

 

[Stockcar axeman]

Just a quick update as the car is getting the new skins and a few other pieces at the body shop right now so things are moving along, just not as fast as I'd like. A big thanks to all the guys that have answered my questions about numerous things pertaining to these cars.

 

[Stockcar axeman]

Well I got it back from the body shop with the new quarter skins, upper deck panel, lower valance and rear bumper fitted. Now time for the chassis work. Things are starting move along.